Multi-needle Monday: Applique Sea Life Designs

Yay! It’s finally summer! If you are like me, you are probably searching for quick and festive items to sell to your customers. Even if you use your multi-needle embroidery machine for gift giving, quick to stitch designs are always welcome. Some of my favorite designs are appliqué. Applique designs add a lot of punch with the high stitch count. It’s easy to change the look of a design by switching fabrics. Did you know most quilt designs can easily be transformed into an appliqué? I love using my edited quilt designs on t-shirts, tote bags, baby onsies and athletic wear.

I selected the sea turtle block design included in the Stipple! Sea Life Collection, to be stitched on a child’s t-shirt. The original design has beautiful stippling that surrounds the sea turtle. In my embroidery software I deleted the stippling portion of the design and saved it as a new design. I also printed a paper template so I could easily position the design on a child’s t-shirt. One great feature of the Stipple! Collection is that all trimming is done after the embroidery is complete.

My go to stabilizer for t-shirts is a poly mesh or no-show mesh fusible cut away stabilizer. Cut the stabilizer bigger than the hoop you plan to use. To position your embroidery properly on a child’s t-shirt, use the Children’s Perfect Placement Kit. Included in the kit are 16 clear plastic templates labeled for a number of baby and children’s accessories and clothing. Use the center front template for a child’s t-shirt. Remember ark the center with a target sticker and remove the template. Because the design features a bean stitch instead of the usual satin stitch to finish the edges, I use wonder under to the wrong side of the appliqué fabric. Remember to trim the excess fabric and fuse the appliqué design after embroidery.

I love to simplify the task of hooping t-shirts, I find using the Monster Snap hoop for multi-needle embroidery machines the quickest and most efficient way. After the target sticker has been positioned with the template, slide the bottom teal frame of the Monster Snap Hoop (5×7 was used for this project) inside the t-shirt body. Attach the top metal frame and smooth the fabric as needed. Always flip the hoop over and make sure the stabilizer is positioned within the frame top and bottom.

Carefully attach the hoop to the machine through the neck of the t-shirt. Feel underneath the hoop for any excess fabric that could possibly be caught between the bobbin plate and hoop. Line up the needle bar with the target sticker and remove the sticker before embroidering. Stitch the design, adding fabric as instructed and trim after embroidery is complete. Turn the t-shirt wrong side out, iron the stabilizer to release the adhesive stabilizer. Trim the excess stabilizer around the embroidery design.

Enjoy your long sunny summer days and happy stitching!

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